Common Core Archives

Report: High school diplomas don’t support Common Core

According to a recent report, many states have yet to practice a critical 21^st Century skill: Common sense. The report reveals that although most states have adopted the Common Core State Standards (CCSS), their diplomas remain CCSS deficient.

The report, “Out of Sync,” produced by Change the Equation (CTEq) and the National School Boards Association’s Center for Public Education (CPE), found that of the 45 states and the District of Columbia that have voluntarily adopted Common Core, only 11 have aligned their graduation requirements in mathematics with those standards.

(Next page: Classes that should be required)…Read More

Education reform movement learns lesson from old standards

Common Core — the new set of national education standards in math and English language arts — will take effect in most states next year, NPR reports. This move toward a single set of standards has been embraced by a bipartisan crowd of politicians and educators largely because of what the Common Core standards are replacing: a mess. In years past, the education landscape was a discord of state standards. A fourth grader in Arkansas could have appeared proficient in reading by his state’s standards — but, by the standards of another state, say Massachusetts, not even close. “For far too long, our school systems actually lied to children and to families and to communities,” says Education Secretary Arne Duncan at a recent speech in Washington. And what made those lies possible, according to Duncan, was the one thing most of these state standards had in common: They were low…

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Why one principal thinks the Common Core is part of an equitable education

Florida schools have just one more academic year to phase in a new set of education standards under the Common Core—and Principal Angela Maxey is ready, StateImpact Florida reports. “I’m truly a proponent for standards-based Common Core education. I’m passionate,” says Maxey, who works at Sallye B. Mathis Elementary School in Duval County. Her school is a math, science and pre-engineering and math (STEM curriculum) magnet school where 90 percent of students qualify for free and reduced lunch. For Maxey, the Common Core is about more than new benchmarks…

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A key priority for ed-tech leaders: Meeting Common Core needs

While school IT leaders voiced support the Common Core, they noted a number of concerns that could affect their ability to meet the standards’ ed-tech requirements.

School superintendents and curriculum directors aren’t the only K-12 administrators worried about the changes being ushered in with the Common Core standards: In a recent survey, 83 percent of ed-tech leaders said preparing for Common Core assessments is among their top three priorities—and 62 percent fear they won’t have enough IT infrastructure to support online testing.

The survey of 300 school IT professionals comes from CDW-G, which released the results of its poll on what ed-tech leaders think about the Common Core standards during the International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE) conference in San Antonio last week.

The Common Core State Standards, which all but five U.S. states have adopted, are designed to ensure that students have the skills and knowledge they need to be successful in college and the workforce. To that end, a critical element of the Common Core is technology that supports teaching, learning, and student assessment—and ed-tech leaders are feeling the pressure this entails.…Read More

Common Core practice tests now available online

The Smarter Balanced Assessment Consortium, one of two collections of states that are designing online tests aligned with the Common Core standards, has released online practice tests in both ELA and math for students in grades 3-8 and 11.

The tests will help schools prepare for implementation of the Smarter Balanced Assessment System in the 2014-15 school year, the organization says.

The practice tests allow teachers, students, parents, and other stakeholders to experience the features of online testing and gain insight into how Smarter Balanced will assess students’ mastery of the Common Core. However, they don’t encompass the full range of content that students will encounter on the spring 2014 Field Test and should not be used to guide instructional decisions, the consortium warns.…Read More

Using a learning management system to meet digital content needs

An LMS with a professional community ocan enable cross-curricular lesson sharing.

As new learning technologies and digital tools appear in classrooms, educators may become overwhelmed as they try to integrate these ed-tech tools into their lessons. But they might find help in their district’s tried-and-true learning management system.

The typical learning management system has evolved to manage digital content, and can organize and provide access to that content so that digital resources are delivered in engaging ways, said Gail Palumbo, former director of curriculum and technology in New Jersey’s Montgomery Township Schools, during a series of edWeb webinars on learning management systems’ potential. Palumbo is now the Lead Faculty – Area Chair for Curriculum and Instruction at the University of Phoenix Online.

According to Palumbo, a learning management system has the capability to include a multitude of digital content, defined as any and all materials or programs stored on an electronic or digital medium that can be transmitted or used by computers and over networks and the internet.…Read More

Separating fact from fiction about the Common Core standards

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Backlash over Common Core State Standards

There was little dissent when the standards were widely adopted in 2010, but that begun changing last year and debate picked up steam this year.

Some states are pushing back against the Common Core State Standards, a set of uniform benchmarks for reading, writing, and math that have been fully adopted in most states and are being widely put in place this school year.

The new Common Core State Standards replace a hodgepodge of educational goals that had varied greatly from state to state. The federal government was not involved in the state-led effort to develop them but has encouraged the project.

While proponents say the new standards will better prepare students, critics worry they’ll set a national curriculum for public schools rather than letting states decide what is best for their students.…Read More

The Common Core is only the beginning of how U.S. schools need to change

In 1994, I was a part of the Clinton Administration team responsible for gaining Congressional approval and supporting the state implementation of the Goals 2000: Educate America Act — the education reform legislation that launched the standards movement, Jennifer Davis reports for The Huffington Post. Twenty years later we finally have a set of rigorous and common math and English standards, the Common Core State Standards, adopted by 45 states. While these internationally benchmarked standards in two subjects represent a groundbreaking step forward, we cannot wait another twenty years for American schools to focus on the broader subjects and skills that are necessary to prepare students for success in our changing world…

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How to train students’ brains for the Common Core

The Common Core State Standards ask students to perform with higher levels of cognition and application, and brain training and specific teaching methods can help students succeed with these new standards, experts say.

According to Margaret Glick, a neuroscience expert and educational consultant at the International Center for Leadership in Education (ICLE), the Common Core State Standards and the accompanying assessments will cognitively require more than past standards.

“They will require a deep understanding of content, complex performances, real-world application, habits of mind to persevere, higher levels of cognition and cognitive flexibility,” Glick said during “The Common Core State Standards and the Brain,” a webinar sponsored by the Learning Enhancement Corporation.…Read More